The Cabin in the Woods
by MarcusJuniusBrutus
Summary: Set between Seasons 2 & 3, Hydra threatens Audrey, and everyone figures out that Coulson's alive.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Author's Notes: Who else is excited for _Agents of SHIELD_ Season 3 tomorrow? (Actually "later today" by the time I post this.) This fic was born out of my pre-game excitement, and it is set between Seasons 2 and 3, though it will obviously be very AU. This is just how I think it _should_ happen. I can almost guarantee that nothing like this _will_ happen, though. This is definitely going to be a short fic, and I hope to finish within the next day or two.

CHAPTER ONE

As always, the morning news was peppered with a smattering of Hydra news, including a couple of their latest attacks. The one that caught Tony's eye over his bowl of Cap'n Crunch was an assault on the Portland Symphony Orchestra where no one was confirmed dead but one cellist was missing. For most men, that would've meant nothing, but most men didn't store data like Tony Stark did.

The pieces clicked together from brief conversations several years ago, and he frowned as he pondered the possible implications. To him, Portland + cellist = memories of a day he tried to forget as often as possible. "Hill," he called to the woman on the other side of the lounge who was pouring over papers of some kind, "what was Coulson's girlfriend's name?"

"Audrey Nathan," she replied promptly. "Yes, that's the same woman who was kidnapped."

What was Maria Hill doing in the lounge anyway? Usually, she did her paper shuffling in the privacy of her office. Was she watching him? To be fair, Tony always assumed that everyone in the room was watching him, and when they were doing something else, he had to assume that they were _secretly_ watching him.

Breaking his train of thought, Hill continued, "Don't worry, Hydra didn't get her. SHIELD got to her first and put her in hiding."

"Why did Hydra want her?"

She hesitated a fraction of a second but responded, "The Director told me he would explain it to you if you asked about it." So she had been watching him, to see if he'd pick up on that news story.

Explanations were rare for Nick Fury, but Tony eagerly grabbed at them when they came. "Great. When will he be here?"

"He's not coming here. I have to take you to him."

This was also unusual, since Fury normally favored dramatic entrances, but Tony would willingly make a trip in exchange for some answers. Before either Hill or Fury could change their minds, Tony set aside his cereal and jabbed a button on his tablet that connected to the PA system throughout their base. "Avengers, assemble in the hangar bay."

Hill opened her mouth to say something but then shut it and nodded. She thought for a moment and said, "Meet you there."

Tony figured she was going off to call SHIELD to give them the heads up. When he got to the hangar, he saw that she'd also detoured to grab his assistant, Pepper Potts, and invited her along on the trip. "Isn't this an Avengers mission?" Pepper was asking, her voice laced with concern.

"You're visiting a SHIELD safehouse," Hill reassured her, steering her into one of the two quinjets that would be used to transport the growing horde of Avengers. "Trust me, you'll be more relevant on this trip than most of the Avengers."

She nodded and nervously buckled in for the journey, taking a seat between Tony and Rhodey. "What are we all doing here, Tony?" Rhodes asked, echoing the sentiments of all the other hastily-assembled Avengers, most of whom were clad in morning workout clothes.

"I'm not sure exactly what's going on," he told them all, "but something big enough is happening that Fury is offering to tell us things. I figured you'd all want in on the road trip."

He figured correctly, and the Avengers divided themselves between two planes and made for the coordinates provided by Maria Hill. They arrived at a small woodland cabin just as a third quinjet was touching down next to them. "I know this place," Steve told his teammates after they all piled out to the peaceful lakefront. "I stayed here once.

"Me, too." This came from Dr. Bruce Banner, who the Avengers had recently re-found, and who'd been remarkably quiet ever since then. He'd hardly even looked at Natasha that whole time, which she completely understood but hadn't quite accepted.

"Me, three." This time, the voice came from a young woman with short hair, who was exiting the quinjet with Erik Selvig, Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, and three other unknowns. The Avengers figured the four newcomers were SHIELD.

"Yeah, I had to came here to find you," one of the other SHIELD guys replied in a thick British accent. "Too bad you weren't here. You missed some fun, by which I mean whiskey and a gunfight." He turned back to the two tall black men who were taking up the rear of the party and addressed one who was clad in black leather and metal and covered in scars. "Right, Mike?"

"It wasn't a party 'till I showed up."

"Too right. I guess that just leaves Mack." This was to the fourth SHIELD agent. "Never visited?"

"Nope."

The girl who'd spoken first had long since broken into a wide grin. "Okay, I know we were all trying to play it cool, but wow. These are the actual Avengers. Like, all of them. How awesome is that?" Her voice rose into almost a fangirlish squeal. "Can I, like, get a picture with you guys? Just so you know, I'm not some random weird person. I'm in the superpowered club, too. I'm Daisy, by the way."

"Not now, Agent Johnson," Hill reprimanded. "We're here for a reason."

"Thanks for that, _former_ Commander Hill, but the Director's not here yet, so we've got time to chat."

Jane and her party clustered around Thor, thoroughly bemused. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" she whispered. He shook his head just as Hill started herding them all inside the small cabin, which housed Audrey Nathan, whose face Tony recognized from the news story, and three other people – again, probably SHIELD.

"Bobbi," Hawkeye greeted a blonde woman, who gave him a welcoming smile in return.

"Hey, Clint. Good to see you again." The British man snorted, and Bobbi rolled her eyes. "Easy, Hunter."

Looking around at all the unfamiliar faces, Pepper asked, "Would introductions be in order?"

They agreed and went around the room starting with the Avengers' party, which consisted of Pepper, Hill, Jane's group, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, and Vision. These last two seemed to be standing awfully close to each other, as they seemed to be doing more and more these days.

It was an impressive roster, and the SHIELD contingent looked a little ill at ease as they announced their much less famous names. These were Daisy Johnson (or Quake), Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird), Mike Peterson (Deathlok), and a few of people without code names: Lance Hunter, Leo Fiz, and Alphonso Mackenzie. "Call me Mack," he told them a little uneasily, conscious of the lack of weight his nickname possessed.

That left Audrey Nathan and a man who turned out to have arrived with her. He had an unassuming middle-aged face but some indefinable magnetism around his expression or his personality or something about him. "I'm Professor Elliot Randolph," he said, "I'm not SHIELD."

Audrey held up her hand. "Wait, I'm confused. I've known you for about a year now. Yesterday, you told me you were with SHIELD and that I was in danger, and you brought me here. Now you're saying..."

"I'm _with_ SHIELD, my dear. Not a member. I was keeping watch over you as a personal favor for the Director. He saved my life once, and he said this would make us even."

"Who's the Director now that Nick Fury's dead?"

"He's not dead," Pepper told her. "Hi, Audrey, we met at Phil's funeral. I know you saw a lot of people you didn't know there..."

"No, of course I remember you."

There'd been a funeral? Tony felt a stab of guilt for not knowing and not attending. Uncomfortable looks passed around the room suggested the other Avengers hadn't known, either. "What funeral?" he asked accusingly.

"I tried to tell you at the time," she said with an apologetic half-shrug, "but you weren't paying attention. You were still pretty distracted by... everything, and it all happened so quickly."

Finding the past a little less relevant than the present, Audrey was now pressing Hill for answers. "When Fury gets here, will he tell me what Hydra wants with me?"

"Fury's not coming. Actually, he doesn't even know about this little convention."

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion, and she glance back at Fitz and Bobbi. "But they said..."

"They said the Director would be here to explain. Fury may be alive, but he's not the Director of SHIELD."

"Then who is?" she sighed, tiring of all this secrecy.

The door swung open at that moment, and Tony's first thought was that not many more people were going to fit in this little cabin. He even opened his mouth to say as much, but then the open doorway revealed a very familiar and supposedly dead man in dark clothes, silencing the whole room. Phil Coulson nodded a quick greeting and answered his ex-girlfriend's question with two simple words. "I am."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Tragedy! Due to technical difficulties, I don't get to watch AoS tonight. 8-( Instead, I will have to console myself by writing.

CHAPTER TWO

As her dead ex-boyfriend entered the SHIELD safehouse, which was already packed full of SHIELD agents and Avengers, a very overwhelmed Audrey Nathan felt her head spin, and she started to crash to the floor before being caught by Agent Morse. She and Elliot helped her onto a couch, and as she started to recover her senses, she felt another more familiar hand holding hers. "Phil?" she whispered, not believing her ears or eyes. "Is it..."

"It's me. It's really me. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have sprung it on you like that. I was just waiting for everyone to get together so I would only have to explain it once. And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you I was alive, but I thought if I got too close to you, it would put you in danger. Clearly, I put you in danger regardless, but..."

"What about us?" Tony demanded, his brain fighting its way out of shock and clawing for some semblance of rationalization.

"I didn't tell you because Fury asked me not to. I don't know why myself, but I decided to respect his wishes."

This actually caused a couple of the SHIELD agents in the room to react with some surprise. "Wait a minute," Hunter said. "You're saying Fury came back from the dead, too?"

"I thought you said that the rest of that GH stuff was destroyed," Mack added with an underlying tone of real anger.

"As far as I know," Coulson affirmed. "I _do_ know that Fury never came back from the dead. He only faked his death."

Hunter mouthed a silent "Oh", but Mack was less reassured. "What do you mean 'as far as I know'?"

Coulson shrugged. "Fury promised me that the last samples of the drug were in the Guest House when it was destroyed, but we all know how Fury likes to keep his options open."

Hawkeye was the next to start speaking again, if only in broken sentences. "You're saying... there's a drug... that brought you... back from the dead? Is that safe?"

With an adamant shake of the head, Coulson replied, "Absolutely not. And for the record, I told Fury it was a bad idea before, during, and after the surgery, but by this point, I guess I've mostly forgiven him." Audrey stirred on the couch, and Coulson's attention immediately returned to her. "Don't try to sit up right away."

"Hydra wants me... to get to you?" she asked him.

He swallowed and lowered his eyes. "That's my fault," he said softly. "A couple years back, I mentioned you in passing to a member of my team. That man turned out to be Hydra. Now he's the head of Hydra. Grant Ward."

It was the first time any of the Avengers had heard that name, which they thought was surprising, considering he was the head of Hydra. Actually, Wanda was growing very impatient with this whole conversation and finally demanded, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

This brought out a quick grin of amusement, and Coulson stood up and offered her his hand. "Phil Coulson. Director of SHIELD. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Maximoff."

She ignored his hand, and he let it fall awkwardly, his smile fading as she said, "I don't know what I have to do with the undead." She tilted her head as she surveyed the other Avengers. "Should we not destroy this creature?"

At these words, the SHIELD agents all moved forward protectively with Daisy Johnson inserting herself directly between Wanda and Coulson. "You shouldn't," she said flatly.

"He said himself that he wasn't safe."

"I said the _drug_ wasn't safe," Coulson protested. "There were some temporary side effects, but I'm totally fine now."

"Mental or physical side effects?" Jane queried from her position safely behind Thor. The scientist in her was understandably wary about unknown drugs.

"Um, yes."

Her equally-wary former intern chuckled nervously. "So you're, like, crazy now?" Luckily for Darcy, Thor was broad-shouldered enough that she could cower behind him with Jane.

"No."

"Not now," Hunter added under his breath.

"Not helping. The point is, I'm still me."

"Only an undead cyborg."

"Hunter."

"Sorry."

"Go to your room."

Hunter grinned and plopped onto the couch next to Audrey, who was finally starting to sit up. "I think last time we were here, _this_ was my room."

The Avengers & co. watched this banter with undisguised bewilderment, but Coulson seemed satisfied with the outcome. "Good. Let's all sit down – or as many of us as can find chairs." He raised an eyebrow at Hunter who slid over a cushion and allowed Coulson to insert himself between Hunter and Audrey. Others in the room slowly did the same, many opting to sit cross-legged on the floor – mostly the SHIELD agents. Some of the others opted to stand, mainly Wanda, who crossed her arms and glared down at Director Coulson but agreed not to immediately dispatch him. All the same, Daisy opted to sit in front of Coulson, her back resting against his legs, and she followed

Coulson heaved a deep breath. "This is about how I pictured this conversation going," he admitted, "maybe minus Hunter's contribution."

"Sorry, boss. Just trying to keep the mood light."

On his other side, Coulson felt Audrey shrink away from him. "Are you really undead? Like a zombie or vampire or something?"

He scooted a little farther from her as well to give her space and to see her better. "No, nothing like that. I just came back from the dead. That's all. I'm still human."

"What about the robot thing?"

Coulson held up his left hand which was, unlike his right hand, covered by a black glove. Actually, she noticed for the first time that his whole outfit was a far cry from the suits he typically wore on the job. He wore dark jeans and a button-down shirt with a black jacket and boots and that glove. "I got a hand cut off a few months back, and I had it replaced a few months back with a cybernetic. It's basically like a technologically advanced prosthetic."

Audrey reached for his hand automatically but stopped when she realized what she was doing, her hand hovering an inch away from his. "May I?" she remembered to ask at that point.

"Of course." He offered the hand to her, and she slipped the leather glove from the slick black metal below. It wasn't the dull grey of scifi robots but a sleek black form that seemed very SHIELD. Audrey still turned it over carefully, tracing the seams with her fingertips. Her thumb pushed his sleeve back a little when she saw that the metal didn't stop at the wrist.

"How far up...?"

He pointed to a spot on his lower arm close to his elbow. Audrey couldn't think of anything more to say to that, but across the room, Darcy was getting over her fear enough to say, "That's kind of cool, right? I mean, I'd want a robot arm. I wouldn't cut my arm off to get one, but still... pretty awesome."

"That doesn't change what else he is," Wand snapped, "and his existence is an abomination."

Daisy was quick to come to her leader's defense. "Woah, hold up there. It may be a little weird, but weird is kind of your whole deal, so I don't think you have a leg to stand on here. Don't you go around defying the laws of nature? I mean, you're a witch."

"I follow the laws of nature. I take advantage of them. He, on the other hand, is not meant to exist." Her hands started to glow a bright crimson, and Daisy rose to her feet in response. "It could be a threat to the very fabric of reality, and we must eliminate that threat."

As she raised one of her hands, palm outward, Daisy mirrored the motion from her spot on the floor. Energy waves surged from her hands and crashed into Wanda, sending her flying back into the wall. "I'd like to see you try," she snorted.

Almost everyone scrambled back onto their feet, weapons clearing holsters and safeties releasing. Coulson rolled his eyes and waved for his people to return to their previous positions, which they did slowly and reluctantly. "Every time you people have a disagreement, this is what happens. Every. Single Time."

"Technically," Tony pointed out, "it was _your_ agent who fired the first shot."

"Yeah, you're all a bad influence on her. Down, Skye."

Jaw tight, Daisy descended back to the floor. "What's the plan, sir?" she muttered through clenched teeth.

"We're all going to talk about this like reasonable adults."

Her eyes traversed the semicircle of the World's Mightiest Heroes, all of whom had weapons at least out, and most of whom had those weapons pointed in her direction. Talking, she thought, was not how this day was going to end.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Thanks for the words of support, Agent Daisy Skye Johnson. I guess you can join me in shushing those well-meaning friends who will inevitably blurt out spoilers. Or worse: hint at them. This is going to drive me crazy. I don't think I should even go on Twitter.

CHAPTER THREE

It was Clint Barton who finally broke the Avengers' line, holstering his pistol and shaking his head of all the nonsense. "I think we're focusing on the wrong details here, guys. Agent... er, _Director_ Coulson, could you stand up for a sec'?"

Coulson obliged cautiously, his muscles tensing in spite of his best intentions to stay calm. His breath quickened with anxiety born of guilt as Barton approached. Then, to his surprise and eternal gratitude, Clint Barton wrapped his arms around Coulson's shoulders and pulled him into a tight bear hug.

"We've missed you sir. But what'd you think I was gonna do – stab you in the back?" This was as he released his former S.O.

"Well, it's happened to me before. Once literally. Figuratively... a whole lot lately."

"Hydra." Barton spat out the word like a curse.

Hunter piped in from his couch seat of banishment, "There was also an attempted coup."

"And I was spying on you for the Rising Tide," Daisy added.

"Plus there was May and Hill and Fury and that whole resurrection business."

Daisy nodded at Hunter's words and continued the litany with, "And your old protégé tried to kill us."

"I lied to you and shot three of your agents."

"And your crazy ex hijacked our plane..."

"Thank you both for that," Coulson interrupted, with an embarrassed side-glance at Audrey, "but considering _your_ crazy ex _also_ hijacked our plane, Skye, you might want to sound a little less smug."

There was some whispering amongst members of Coulson's team until Fitz asked the question on all of their minds. "What crazy ex? Garrett?"

"What? No." Coulson's face twisted in disgust. "Why would you guess Garrett of all people?"

"Well, he hijacked our plane, didn't he? It's either him or Ward."

"She's talking about Camilla Reyes."

His eyes brightened with enlightenment. "Ahhh. That makes much more sense."

"Now, shush. I owe these people some explanations, so let's let them get a word in edgewise, shall we? Barton. Everyone. You must have a lot of questions, so I will try to answer as many as I can. Fire away, figuratively speaking." This was in the direction of Wanda, who was being prevented by Thor and Vision from attempting further attacks.

This took them all a minute to process, during which time, Pepper Potts also marched up to Coulson, slapped him sharply across the face, and wrapped him in a tearful hug. "Do you know what your death did to us?" she sobbed.

"I only know what it did to me."

"And you were really dead?"

"For a few days, anyway."

"Then how...?"

He cleared his throat uncomfortably and disentangled himself from the slender redhead. "Alien blood with some regenerative properties. That was also what made me go crazy for a little while. The doctors tried to prevent that by replacing some of my memories with some experimental SHIELD technology, but that only did so much."

Barton jumped back into the conversation, ever curious. "How'd you lose your hand?"

"Fire ax."

"Okay..."

Coulson shrugged to indicate that it was a long story and summarized, "My hand was poisoned by an alien crystal, but Mack here managed to think fast enough to cut off the hand before the poison could spread and kill me."

"Why didn't you tell any of us that you were alive? You only said why you didn't tell Audrey." He always did pick up on the details.

With some reluctance, Coulson admitted, "Fury asked me to. I don't even know why."

Hill cocked her head, puzzled. "Yes, you do."

"I know what he said, but I don't know the real reason."

After a brief staredown between the two of them, Hill explained to all and sundry, "Fury thought Phil's death would serve to unite the Avengers."

"Yes," Phil agreed impatiently. "My _death_ did that. And I was still plenty dead by the time they got their little pep talk and arrived in New York. Most of them didn't know me well enough that my death would have any _lasting_ effect, so Fury could've told them when I came back to life later without diminishing the team's spirit of unity. Ergo, he had another reason for keeping it a secret. I have a few theories on the subject, but I'd prefer to discuss that with Fury himself."

"Next you'll be saying he didn't have to ruin your trading cards, either."

"I told you to stop bringing that up." She only smirked at him, and he asked, "By the way, shouldn't you be in a good mood today? You've been whining for ages about how hard it is to keep these guys apart from General Talbot." The US military's main SHIELD hunter had understandably been wanting to interview Agents Romanoff and Barton for quite some time, which had Hill in a near-constant panic. If he talked with either of them, Phil Coulson would inevitably crop up in conversation.

"Yeah, my job is easier. So's yours. Now you can lend a hand directly and not go through intermediaries."

"Pun intended?"

"Never." She shook her head emphatically.

Back in her rocking chair seat, Natasha Romanoff crossed her arms over her chest. "You've been interfering in our missions, too?"

A little sheepishly, Coulson said, "In the nicest possible way. A lot of Maria's information comes from us – like the location of Loki's scepter. I had a personal stake in that one. Pun definitely intended." This statement elicited heartfelt groans from his people. "I also had my people working on that helicarrier that Fury brought to Sokovia, so that's the kind of interference you can't say 'no' to."

Her expression softened into a rare smile. "I guess I of all people can't complain about secrets." Clint quickly agreed with this sentiment, and Coulson pensively scanned the roomful of remaining frowns.

He focused on the hulking alien who'd lurking in stormy silence so far. "Thor, I almost forgot. Have you met Professor Randolph yet? He is actually from Asgard, too, so I'm sure the two of you have lots of things to talk about. Things that aren't me," he added hopefully and without subtlety.

"Does he speak true?" asked the hulking blonde man.

"Yeah, but I've been here a while."

Satisfied with this, Coulson returned to the rest of the assembly. "I don't know how to begin telling you how sorry I am."

"Apology brownies?" Clint suggested. "That's what you do, right?" To his team, he added, "I haven't had any myself, but I hear they're spectacular."

Relieved at such an easy first request, Coulson quickly agreed. "I will get on that."

"Why have none of us ever gotten apology brownies?" Fitz protested. "You should've given me some that time you punched me in the face. You didn't even give me a _regular_ apology."

"Or that time you locked me in that cell in the basement," Daisy chimed in, never one to let a conversation go too long without her participation. But she caught Coulson's glare and restrained herself. "Right, we can talk about this later."

"Right," Coulson agreed. "So, Thor seems happy over there." Heads swiveled to Thor and Randolph, who were indeed reminiscing about the glories of Asgard in a most contented fashion. "Barton and Romanoff will be happy with brownies. Colonel Rhodes and Dr. Selvig... I'm sure the two of you are familiar enough with SHIELD and secrets that you're not too shaken by events."

"Maybe not the undead part," Rhodey mumbled, and Selvig nodded.

"We'll work on that. And I don't know you three." He pointed at Vision, Falcon, and Wanda. "You four I _barely_ know." He pointed at Jane, Darcy, Steve Rogers, and Bruce Banner. "Though on a side note, Dr. Banner, I have to thank you, because one of your inventions helped us save Audrey's life recently."

Banner's head bobbed quickly in acknowledgement, and Audrey's eyes clouded with memories. "You _were_ there," she whispered.

"Audrey and Pepper," Coulson continued, "will obviously take a lot more than brownies, but we'll come back to that, too. That just leaves you, Mr. Stark, and I feel like you're going to have the most mixed emotions out of everyone here. On the one hand, you still thought my first name was 'Agent,' but on the other hand, I was one of the first people you knew who died in action, so..."

"Not _too_ conflicted," Tony replied brusquely. "I kind of just want to punch you in the face. The only inner conflict is me restraining myself so I don't upset Pepper. Do you know we used to talk about you like you were some kind of fallen hero?"

"He _was_ ," Daisy snapped. "Just because..."

A look from the Director stopped her again, and Coulson told Stark, "'I'm sorry' doesn't begin to cover it. You're right. I know you're right. There are these memorials around the different SHIELD Academies with the names of agents killed in the line of duty, and Fury decided to put my name up there. He said there'd be too many questions if he didn't. I know my name shouldn't be up there with theirs, not while I'm still standing here. I'll probably earn it one of these days, but until then, there's nothing I can do about it. I can't change that inscription. I can't change your memories..." (Actually, he could, but he wouldn't.) "I can only apologize and try to make it right with you all as best I can."

His heart lifted slightly at support from the most welcome of directions. "The helicarrier was a nice touch," Captain America allowed.

"And far more useful than getting stabbed in the chest," Coulson quipped in return, happy that he was able to squeeze out some non-embarrassing words when faced once more with his childhood hero.

A snarl came from Tony's direction, and he stalked out of the room. "Call me if Wanda manages to get in a shot," he said as he left.

Barton hurried after him saying, "Don't worry, I'll talk him around."

"Only one storm-out and one and a half death threats," Daisy announced. "Must be your lucky day, sir."

"Must be."

"He'll come around," Rogers offered sympathetically.

Coulson nodded and attempted a smile, but he knew deep down that he still had a long way to go.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: So, it seems that for the foreseeable future, I'll be watching _AoS_ about half a week behind everyone else. I've seen the first one and the promo for the second... And saw Elliot Randolph, whose appearance will completely negate my current fic, once we find out what he's currently up to. Really? Already? That did not take long. Don't get me wrong – I love the character, and that's why I included him, but I thought it was safe to use him because the show apparently forgot about him. Oh, well.

CHAPTER FOUR

When Barton failed to return with Stark immediately, Hill called to warn him about the laser fence outside, and everyone settled back awkwardly except for Wanda, who stormed out after them, and Vision, who followed. "Maybe," Natasha suggested, "you could start on those apology brownies, Coulson. They might even be ready when the boys get back."

"Sure. The kitchen's fully stocked, so I should be good." He glanced at Audrey for permission to briefly re-abandon her, and she mutely nodded.

"I'll help," Daisy volunteered, hopping up to her feet, "as long as you stop calling me 'Skye.' I've never made brownies before."

Coulson's eyes widened in surprise. "You've never made brownies? Ever? How is that even possible for an adult human being. And sorry, I keep forgetting."

"You saw the van I used to live in. It didn't exactly have a kitchen. And there's nothing wrong with your memory." The two of them adjourned to the kitchen area, lowering their voices slightly so that others could feel free to start their own conversations in the living room area. "Also, how much time have you spent undercover over the course of your career? I'm sure you are completely used to calling people whatever name they're currently on."

Coulson started pulling bowls and ingredients from cupboards after a little exploration. "You mean they didn't teach you basic bake skills in the orphanage? I find that hard to believe. You're probably right about the name. I guess I'm just missing Skye a little; I have a hard time letting go of things, especially now."

"I wasn't exactly a prodigy in the food department. Where did you even learn? I'm still me, you know. I'm still the red corvette, only now I can fly."

Apparently, no one else had even been making a pretense at conversation, because Hunter blurted out, "Wait, you can _fly_? When did that happen?"

Coulson glared at him over Daisy's shoulder. "This is in reference to a previous conversation we had, of which you were not a part."

"He compared me to his car," Daisy confirmed.

Hunter shrugged. "That's flattering."

"You are also not a part of _this_ conversation," Coulson continued. "Here, Sk...Daisy. Mix the oil and sugar in here." He went over the rest of the recipe – secret ingredients included, and added, "Ohio."

"What?"

"You asked where I learned to bake. Ohio."

After pouring vegetable oil and sugar into the bowl as instructed, Skye stirred thoughtfully. "What's in Ohio?"

"Not much, but it's where I grew up."

"I thought Wisconsin."

"No, we moved after my dad died. My mom got a job, and I quickly figured out that if I wanted to eat good food again, not just whatever she had time to throw together, the best way was to make it myself. Eggs and vanilla."

It took Skye two tries to crack an egg effectively. The first time, she tapped it too gently on the counter edge and then overcompensated, smashing it flat and splattering her sleeves with yellow gooey yolk. The second time was a little easier, though she still had to pick bits of shell out of the bowl. "While I spent my time alone learning to hack computers."

"Both have served us well." Coulson was at this point mixing the dry ingredients.

Daisy tapped him on his right hand, which was holding the spoon. "Cheating."

"What?"

"I thought you were trying to use your left hand for as much as possible, to get used to it. Or did you 'forget' that, too?"

A slight motion of the chin indicated the others in the room. "I'm making an exception today." A lot of things he used to do without thinking had become slow, laborious tasks. Clearly, he didn't want the others watching that.

"Right. Sorry."

"Speaking of 'sorry,' how many brownies do I owe you for calling you 'Skye'?"

"None; it's not a big deal."

"No, you're trying to reinvent yourself, and I don't want to get so wrapped up in nostalgia that I hold you back."

"You never have. Promise. Just the opposite."

"What, I've pushed you into growing up too fast?"

"Is this your day to wallow in guilt or something? And are you done with your bowl?"

"Kind of hard to avoid today. Not done. I just remembered that Barton loves nuts." He scrounged some more until he came up with a bag of walnuts, cutting board, and knife.

Even though she didn't think he'd have to rely on his bad hand too much for the walnut-cutting process, Daisy quickly offered, "I'll do it."

"Try not to chop anything off."

From the outsiders' perspective of the scene, the back-and-forth appeared so natural that many of them reached the same conclusion, which Darcy spoke aloud. "She's totally his kid, right?"

"Practically," Bobbi told her, "but not actually."

"So, do you know why we're here? I get that the new Avengers just sort of came along with the old Avengers, but how'd we swing an invite?"

"Don't know. Phil?"

"Are you all actually incapable of talking amongst yourselves?"

"She asks a good question."

Coulson reluctantly let his eyes slide away from Daisy's progress with the walnut-chopping, where he was anxiously watching the proximity of the blade to her fingers. "I figured Thor would mention it at some point, so this way we could have explanations all at once. Anyway, if I didn't tell you, that would probably leave you as the very last people on the planet who thought I was dead, which seemed highly unnecessary."

Maria Hill clapped her hands together and pushed herself to her feet. "You're right, Coulson. We'll let you two have your daddy-daughter kitchen time in peace, and we'll go outside so we can talk about you behind your back."

"That's... better. I guess. Thanks."

Everyone did agree there'd be a lot to talk about and started crowding back toward the door, deciding that they could talk by the lakeside. Hunter was the only one who wanted to stay, but Bobbi manhandled him out the door. "C'mon, Bob," he whined. "How often are we privy to their private conversations? This isn't at all how I pictured them. I imagined more shouting. And hugging."

"There'll be some shouting if you don't keep moving." She shut the door firmly behind him, and they joined the others, who were sinking down next to the lake right outside the front door. Tony and Barton were already there, pant legs rolled up and feet dangling in. Wanda and Vision were nowhere in sight. Either they were out in the forest somewhere, or they'd flown away.

More people dipped their feet in the water, legs trailing quietly, everyone reflective. "You know," Darcy decided, "He's different from how I remember him."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: So, I'm really concerned seeing the promo for the next AoS ep, about whatever Ward is going to do that has Coulson on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Current theory is that Ward is going after Audrey, mainly for the reasons which had me write this fic in the first place – namely, that he would be stupid not to. Also, the writers will have to get rid of Audrey if they ever want to go anywhere with their Coulsalind storyline. (It's not like they can bring Audrey as a regular love interest, since that actress is busy with her own show.) If my theory is right, the Philharmonic ship is going to sink hard and fast... just like every other ship on that show. (Poor FitzSimmons.) Anyone else have any theories?

To xpurplexbutterflyx – May had been on vacation, since that's where we left her at the end of Season 2, and obviously, we didn't know where Simmons was at that point. But my story cast is probably large enough without them, so I think I'll leave their storylines alone for this one.

CHAPTER FIVE

A group of sulky Avengers sat around the undeniably pleasant lake in no state of mind to fully appreciate its beauty. Whether their thoughts on the subject were positive or negative, everyone was pretty wrapped up in the revelations of the day. "My ex-boyfriend is a zombie robot and the director of a vigilante spy network," Audrey summed up, "and he may have also gone crazy. Is there anything else I should know?" She rounded on Mack, who happened to be the nearest SHIELD agent.

"Probably, but you'll have to talk with the Director about that."

Her head swiveled to Randolph on her other side. "And you. I thought you were my friend. My weird, inappropriate friend, but a pretty decent guy anyway. Is no one I know human anymore?"

The Asgardian smiled wanly. "Of course I'm your friend. I just saved you from Hydra, didn't I? I call that friendship."

"Did you? What happened at the orchestra? Is everyone okay?"

He turned an appealing look toward the SHIELD agents. "Ah, I don't really know what happened when we left..."

Bobbi held up her hands to calm down Audrey. "Everyone's fine. Hydra doesn't have any use for them. They only wanted you."

"Why now? Phil and I have been separated for years, and Hydra's been fighting SHIELD for nearly that long."

"Ward." Her lips tightened as she recalled painful memories of her own time with Hydra, and Ward in particular. "Ward just became the new head of Hydra, so he's changing up their strategy and attacking individual agents. What's more, his own girlfriend just died, so he probably thinks it's only fair to take out his anger on the woman Coulson loves."

"Loves? If he loved me, why didn't he tell me he was alive? He was in Portland , literally standing right next to me, and he still didn't tell me. He let me think I was just hallucinating."

This caused some rumbles amongst the others as some thought she was kind of an idiot for not questioning the hallucination and others defended her, insisting that it probably made sense in context. "Look," Fitz said, waving them all quiet. "I was there. I was the only other person here who was in Portland then. Here's what I got out of it: After SHIELD fell and we all got to safety, the very first thing that Agent Coulson did was drop everything to go rescue you. I asked him why he didn't tell you, and he said he meant to one day. Just like I know he meant to tell the rest of you Avengers, because he said so to Lady Sif."

"Lady Sif was here?" queried Thor.

"Yeah, a couple times. Oh, and another thing." This was to Audrey again. "Portland was one of two times I've ever seen Coulson cry. I think he thought I wasn't looking. The other time wasn't girl-related, it was just after he was tortured, and, oh, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt an Avenger. I just talk a lot sometimes. And interrupt. A lot."

"Do not give it a thought. However, Wanda Maximoff may not have been wrong to bring up the, uh, other matter." He shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of the group. "Do not misunderstand me; I would not hastily reach the same decision that she did, but..." He cleared his throat. "But I live in a world of magic, one far more advanced than yours. I have seen things come back from the dead before. They are never as they once were, and it never ends well."

Darcy patted him on the arm. "Maybe things are different on earth. We're more open-minded. We don't think that people are evil just because they come back from the dead. Haven't you ever seen _Twilight_?"

This particular example was not well received. Most snorted or rolled their eyes. Tony said, "Like Thor said, it never ends well. Seriously, though, I don't care if he's alive, dead, or undead. I care that he lied to us. Everything we went through together meant nothing to him, and he was willing to let us suffer just to go along with some plan of Fury's that he didn't quite understand."

"He was following orders," Barton protested.

"Maybe at first, although I still have a problem with that, but definitely not now. Who's Director of SHIELD, anyway: Fury or Coulson? SHIELD people?"

The SHIELD people looked a little confused but generally agreed, "Coulson?"

"But they're really the same person, aren't they? No feelings, no attachments. Just getting the job done. Coulson just hides it better by acting nice and polite."

Those same SHIELD people were back on sure footing with this accusation, and Hunter said, "I know it may seem like that to you, but he's definitely attached to us. He may hide things from us sometimes, but he'd do anything for us."

"What about his last team?"

"Wha'da ya mean?"

Tony pointed around at the assembled agents. "You all look fairly young, while he's an older guy. I assume you haven't been in SHIELD as long as he has, right? So, he must've had other teams before you."

"I guess."

"Does he talk about them? Do they get together at Christmas? Do you even know any of their names?"

This took them all aback for a moment, but Fitz finally said, "Garrett. He worked with John Garrett for a while. He trained Akela Amador." He was ticking them off on his fingers as he spoke, but he had to stop there. "See, that's two names."

"Yeah, sounds like he really knows how to make friends."

"Well, we're different," Fitz snapped. "We're family. We were with him through the whole Hydra uprising and the fake SHIELD takeover... Actually, that was just me and Simmons. Okay, stop glaring. I don't want Iron Man glaring at me. I want you to like me and maybe show me your lab sometime."

Unimpressed, Stark continued to glare. He held this expression until Fitz wound down into quiet, embarrassed mumbling. "I will happily show you my lab if you say something mean about Coulson right now."

Compelled by his overwhelming love of cutting edge technology, Fitz answered without missing a beat, "Well, he can be pretty aloof sometimes. Except when he's intruding into other people's problems."

"Good man."

"Fitz!" an open-mouthed Bobbi exclaimed.

"What?" he defended. "It's true. And you were part of the coup, so clearly you also recognize that despite being a good guy in general, he does has his flaws. There's nothing wrong with admitting that. He'd say so himself."

Mack shook his head in tired confusion. "This conversation took a hard left turn." He didn't hear anything that ne necessarily disagreed with, so he left it at that.

"And a very unprofessional one," Natasha added with a frown. "I think I'm glad I got out of SHIELD when I did, if this is how unsupportive everyone is."

"Can't we all just be happy that Coulson's alive?" Barton chimed in. "I don't see why we need this big controversy. He's a good guy, and he's not dead. That's enough for me."

Darcy unnecessarily raised a hand to ask for permission to speak. No one granted it, but she spoke anyway. " _Was_ he a good guy?" she asked. "'Cause, I basically just remember him stealing my iPod. Also, how do you know Zombie Coulson is at all the same as Human Coulson?"

"You just said the exact opposite of thing like three minutes ago."

She shrugged apologetically and adjusted her glasses. "It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, and I only just now remembered the iPod."

"You got it back," Clint snapped. "I know. I was in New Mexico then, too."

"Okay, so what is he like now?" Audrey asked, causing everyone to fall respectfully if temporarily silent. There was a general unspoken consensus that she had the most at stake here. "I can't even tell if his own team likes him or not, or if SHIELD trusts him or not, and I don't have much else to go on."

Everyone considered this briefly until Mike Peterson showed up. Until then, he'd been a vaguely menacing presence in the background of the conversation, but at that point, he decided it was time to weigh in on the debate. "How about his actions? Hi. I know most of you don't know who I am..."

"Another cyborg," Professor Randolph observed.

"Right, well, if it's okay, I'd like to tell you my story, which Director Coulson has been a big part of." He received a wide range of expressions on the curious-to-disinterested spectrum, but no one silenced him. He had their full attention starting with his next sentence. "I was recruited into a supersoldier program by a group called Centipede, where they injected me with a modified version of the Extremis serum."

Stark, Pepper, and Rhodey flinched the most noticeably, since they'd been the ones dealing with the original serum, but everyone regarded Mike a little more warily after that and listened a little more closely to what he was saying.

"Don't worry; the serum's been neutralized. I'm completely stable, though I wasn't always. I was a bit on the destructive side, but Coulson managed to talk me down while his team found a way to bring me in without killing me."

Tony was less than completely blown away so far, and he was actually a little more hostile now that the mention of Extremis was out there. Mike was definitely not helping his case. "Just because the man didn't kill you doesn't make him a saint."

"Afterwards, I wanted to join SHIELD," Mike continued without missing a beat, "so he put in a good word for me at the Academy."

"I'll bet he did. Superpowered guy like you..."

"But then he told me to think twice before joining. Yes, SHIELD wanted to use me just like Centipede wanted to use me. They saw me more as an asset than a person, except for Coulson. He pulled me aside and told me that even though I was doing a good job, I needed to reconsider before signing on for good, since unlike most SHIELD agents, I have a son to think of. But at the same time we were having this talk, my son was being kidnapped by Centipede. They wanted to trade him for Coulson."

Here, he hung his head a little, and he took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm not proud of it, but I agreed. I lied to get Coulson to the meeting point, but when he realized what was happening, of course he agreed to go through with it anyway. I... I tried to go back for him, to save him, but Centipede only caught me, too. Then they kidnapped my son again and used him as leverage to get me to work for them."

"Coulson got out, though," Darcy said a little anxiously, unused to stories with this much kidnapping.

"Eventually," Mike allowed, "his team rescued him, but only after Centipede spent time torturing him for information. I was fighting the team for a while for Centipede, which turned out to be Hydra. Then the team rescued my son again, and the new Director Coulson offered me a job as an Agent of SHIELD. Later, when he was being hunted by their people," He gestured at Bobbi and Mack, who tensed a little, "I was one of the few people he called on for help, because for some reason he decided he could trust me."

"Did you turn him in?"

"Of course not. Phil Coulson saved my life and saved my son's life, even when I repaid his kindness with betrayal, and then he put his faith in me again, even though that makes absolutely no sense. And _now_ it makes no sense that some of you are talking about killing this man."

Jane waved a hand to get everyone's attention while they were all pondering what Mike had said. "Wait, hold on. Death didn't give Coulson superpowers, right?" A few people confirmed this, and she winced. "Well, then, he must have put a bug on someone, but either way, he's probably listening to this conversation right now. When he first came to the cabin, he knew exactly when to walk in, and he responded to a question that Audrey asked pretty quietly and away from the door."

Fitz was nodding since she started talking. "Oh, that's our ear pieces. When he sent me to pick up Audrey, he wanted to hear what was happening."

"I assume neither of you turned them off?"

"I didn't. I don't know if he did. It's on a one-way feed, but I would assume that he did not. Among his many other faults, he has absolutely _no respect for other people's privacy_." He raised his voice on the last few words and then jabbed a finger into his ear to turn off his comm.

Hunter gave him a superior smirk, having said nothing offensive himself for once, an Fitz made a face in reply. "It's okay, mate. Coulson knows you're just mad 'cause he dragged you out of the lab."

"I think I might have a lead on the monolith," he muttered, and then more defensively added, "Hey, don't you all look at me like that. This time, I'm sure that..."

His words trailed off as the Scarlet Witch stormed back to the group with her watchdog a few steps behind. "Vision has convinced me that there is a fair way to solve our disagreement." She paused, consciously or unconsciously to give weight to his words. "I will read your director's mind to determine whether or not he poses a threat. If he is truly still as he was before his death, I will say nothing more about it. If, however, he has been consumed by the forces of darkness..." She looked back at Vision who nodded slowly and firmly.

"I will kill him myself," the android announced, speaking for the first time since he arrived in the cabin, his somber voice lending weight to the words.

The SHIELD agents shuffled uncomfortably for a few moments before Hunter begrudgingly said, "That seems fair... right?" His eyes darted around to the others, none of whom seemed to want to be responsible for the issue. "I mean, we know he's not controlled by forces of darkness, or whatever, and we wouldn't want him if he were."

There was still silence until Coulson himself strolled out of the cabin with Daisy. "Sounds fair to me, too."

"Are you still monitoring this conversation?" Hunter demanded. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Sorry." He gave Hunter an apologetic smile that didn't actually look too apologetic, and he pulled his earpiece out, switched it off, and tucked it into a pocket. He turned to face Wanda, squaring his shoulders as he prepared himself for whatever happened next. "How do we do this?"

"Phil..." Audrey started to warn, reaching in his direction but not nearly close enough to touch him.

"Hunter's right. I have absolutely nothing to worry about."

Wanda approached cautiously, muscles coiled as she prepared to strike at the slightest sign of duplicity. "You needn't do anything. Just wait, and it will be over soon."

He looked like he might've said something else, but at that moment, Wanda raised her hand to his temple, the irises of her eyes flashing a bright crimson before she shut her eyes and scrunched her face in concentration. Coulson mirrored her expression, and soon both of them started to stiffen in pain.

"What is this?" murmured the mind reader as both of them started to shake, eyes still squeezed shut.

Daisy pressed a hand against Coulson's back to steady him. "Guys, is this normal?"

None of the Avengers could answer that question, since none were too familiar with Wanda's powers themselves, so Daisy only got helpless shrugs in reply.

Meanwhile, the pain of the two mentally-linked people mounted until Wanda, hugging her own body and doubling over, dropped forward with a scream. Vision caught her before she could hit the ground. Coulson sagged back against Daisy, who firmly kept him upright as he bit back most of his own cries. A slight whimper escaped from his throat, but most people were too focused on Wanda to notice.

Everyone watched her anxiously as she blinked tear-filled eyes and her face settled back into the hate she'd shown earlier. She craned her neck up to face Vision and finally pronounced her judgment. The whole lake seemed to have fallen silent, not just the people who listened with baited breath. Slowly, deliberately, so that there could be no possible mistake, Wanda said two words.

"Kill him."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: To Aquabloodhound... For once, yes!

CHAPTER SIX

As soon as Wanda Maximoff delivered her death sentence against Phil Coulson, cries of protest sounded from nearly everyone else. Even Vision hesitated in surprise, having fully expected the verdict to go the other way. He released Wanda as soon as she could stand and took a step back, his eyes flicking between her and the intended victim.

Coulson was standing a little ways off, rubbing his head and blinking in confusion as he readjusted to the present moment in time.

Vision pointed at him and clarified, "You wish for me to kill this man?"

"Yes," Wanda hissed between clenched teeth.

He turned to look at all the others, all of whom were truly as shocked as he was. The Avengers, the SHIELD agents, and all the rest were completely dumbfounded and disbelieving, from Audrey Nathan to Tony Stark. It was hard to believe that all of them could have been so wrong, and Vision felt compelled to press the issue. "You are certain there is no trace of humanity left in him?" he asked reluctantly, although he was sure at this point that Wanda would not be swayed.

"When I spoke of darkness, I did not expect to see anything quite so literal, but my vision could not have been clearer. I saw a great light – beautiful, indescribable. I saw his mind torn away from that light and enter into something... that I've never felt before." She ended with a shudder and glared forward, her lip curled with loathing.

Daisy Johnson felt herself unconsciously start to pull away from her boss. She stopped with one hand on his shoulder and whispered, "A.C.? She's lying, right?" When he didn't respond immediately, only opening and then closing his mouth again wordlessly, that hand fell away, too.

Shaking his head, Coulson started with the most unsatisfactory answer imaginable. "It's... all a matter of perspective," he started before realizing that the others would take this as an admission of guilt. The startled, angry glares that met his statement confirmed his miscalculation. "I mean, she didn't see what she thought she saw. She chose to look at one moment completely out of context, and then she jumped to the wrong conclusions."

"I was looking," Wanda snapped, "at the moment of his resurrection, which is exactly what is in question here."

"Yes, you saw the moment I returned to my physical body, returned to Earth. That darkness you saw... that's the Earth just like it's always been as long as either you or I have been on it. It only looks worse now that you've seen what I left." They weren't too quick on the uptake, so Coulson sighed and tried again. "People talk all the time about how I died, and about how I came back from the dead. No one ever asks what happened in between those two things." Ignoring the dawning realization and growing horror of his friends, he clarified, "Actually, one man asked once. He was about to die, and he asked me what it was like. I thought May was listening in when I told him, but she didn't bring it up afterwards."

"What _is_ it like?" Daisy asked quietly.

Coulson shrugged. "I only remember a little bit now. I don't think the human mind can fully comprehend it. Sorry, but that's the best answer I can give you."

Her tone turned sharp and bitter. "Is that why you're always charging into danger?"

"What? No. It's not what you're thinking. Daisy, I don't _want_ to die. I have too much to do here and too many people I care about. But I can't be afraid of death, either, since I know what's waiting for me afterwards." He cleared his throat. "Speaking of my possibly imminent death, Wanda, I'd like you to read my mind again. Ignore my death, resurrection, and the time in between. Look at anything before or after those few days. I already agreed to your deal. If you decide to kill me, I won't stop you, and neither will my people, but first, you need to do a thorough job with your investigation."

"Fine. Give me your sidearm." Wanda held out her hand, and Coulson grudgingly placed his Smith & Wesson M&P into her palm. She took off the safety, pointed it at his chest, and rested her finger lightly against the trigger, ignoring a few gasps behind her. She did make one allowance, though. "Do you have anything you need to say to your people?"

He looked around with a sad smile. "I actually have a lot to say to you all, which is why I have goodbye messages and final instructions for you and some other people all ready in case anything happens to me. I actually update them a lot to account for recent events, so I'll warn you now, they're pretty long. I left them with Agent Koenig."

That raised one obvious question, which Hunter raised. "Which Agent Koenig?"

"Billy, of course."

"I don' t think that merits an 'of course'? I still can't tell the difference between them, I don' t know about the rest of you guys." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, more importantly, who gets Lola? No, wait, it's Daisy, I'll bet."

"Of course," Coulson repeated with a wry smile.

"What about your..."

"Daisy gets all my stuff, Hunter. She can give away or throw out what she likes, but I'm dumping that responsibility on her. Sorry about that," he added over his shoulder to Daisy. "Besides my stuff on the base, I have this one storage unit that's a little... cluttered."

"Figures," she said.

"What's wrong with you all?" Fitz demanded. "Why are you talking about this right now? No one cares who gets Coulson's _stuff_. Shouldn't we be a little more concerned for his _life_?"

Hunter slapped him on the back with forced good humor. "Relax, mate. She won't kill him. She can't, right? Like I said before – like we've all been saying – we know the man's not evil, so she can't kill him."

"She's not exactly practicing gun safety, though, is she? One more painful memory, and she'll pull the trigger on accident."

"You're not wrong," Daisy agreed. "How about it, Miss Scarlet?"

The slender finger uncurled from around the trigger and rested on the guard. "Better?"

She didn't think it was too much better, but she didn't really have much of a say. Other people who _also_ didn't have a say continued to raise objections, however. "Is this really happening?" Darcy demanded. "Is she really just going to shoot a guy in the chest right here in front of everybody? In front of the Avengers and SHIELD and his ex-girlfriend and, you know, the rest of us?" She motioned one hand in a circle to encapsulate the small, miscellaneous group that was feeling really out of place. Jane pulled her back and shushed her. "What, you're okay with this? What about you?" She rounded on Audrey, who whispered,

"No, of course I'm not okay with this, but I didn't even know until today that Phil was alive. Now it seems like the Avengers are saying this isn't really him, and I don't know whether or not to believe them."

Barton was quick to contradict her by saying, "Not _all_ of the Avengers, but I'm with the people who are convinced he'll pass Wanda's test. Who cares if SHIELD brought him back from the dead? We can't punish him for something he had no control over. It's not like he asked for it... I assume."

This he directed obliquely toward Coulson, who confirmed, "I was adamantly, vocally against the idea before, during, and after the procedure."

"Well, you couldn't be that vocal _during_ the..." He stopped that sentence, seeing Coulson's raised eyebrow. "Oh. You were awake during the... Wow. Sorry, boss."

"Not your fault."

"No, but I feel like someone should say it, and I'm guessing Fury didn't."

"He said he was glad he did it." Coulson blew out a long breath and took a step forward so that his gun was about an inch away from his chest. "Okay, I'm ready. Time to finish this."

Wanda took a breath and closed her eyes, and if they turned red again, they weren't visible to the outside world. Her hand came up again, and soon she and Coulson were lost again to the world of his mind. Many eyes watched anxiously as her chest started to rise and fall more quickly and the her gun hand trembled.

Behind her, Barton edged closer, preparing to grab the gun if he had to. He'd made no promises, after all, and he didn't want this Maximoff kid to do something she'd regret. He sort of thought of her as his responsibility after bringing her onto the team, and after the death of her brother. He wondered if he'd have any support if it came down to a fight. Natasha, his usual backup, might not have his back on this one, since if anything scared that woman, it was the really out-there stuff, like monsters and aliens and people who came back from the dead.

Oh, well. If he got the drop on Wanda, it might not matter.

The gun continued to waver, and Wanda's already-moist eyes began to run freely with tears. After what seemed like an eternity, she gasped and let the weapon fall to her side. "I was wrong," she choked out. "I nearly... I can't believe..."

Clint took that opportunity to pry the gun from her loose fingers and hand it back to Coulson, who stood very still and quiet. "Not an evil monster, then?" Barton prompted.

"I almost killed him. You have to believe I would never..."

"Of course not," Coulson assured her softly.

She wiped at the tears with the back of her hand. "I thought I'd learned my lesson with Ultron about making assumptions and choosing sides, but it seems I was wrong. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Nothing to forgive. You thought I might be a threat, investigated that threat, and then found out I wasn't. That sounds perfectly sensible to me." He offered her a small smile, fighting past the haze of whatever memories he's been seeing. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't know how much time has past, so I think I should check on the brownies I left in the oven, now that you know I'm a regular human."

He dug into his pocket for his earpiece, held it up so that everyone else could see it, and passed it off to Barton before walking back toward the cabin. He paused and turned at the sound of Wanda's voice when she said, "I never said you're a regular human. You never were, even before the Kree drug filled your veins."

Thor perked up at the word "Kree", but Jane mouthed, "Not now," and he settled back with a dark glower.

"But that's not a bad thing," Wanda concluded as Phil disappeared inside. Daisy shook herself and started to follow, but Wanda put a hand on her arm to stop her. "He wants some time alone right now."

Angrily, Daisy ripped away from the Avenger and demanded, "What would you know about it? You might've had a couple quick peeks in his head, but that doesn't exactly entitle you to have an opinion here."

"I have seen into his memories and into his heart. Among other things, I know that he prefers to retreat from others, especially those he loves, when he is in hurting, which he is right now in both mind and body."

"In mind and body?" Daisy echoed. "What else did you do to him besides pry into his mind."

Her eyes widening in surprise at Daisy's anger, Wand said, "I mean his hand, of course. The pain is always worse with stress."

Daisy shook her head savagely. "Wrong again. He lost his hand months ago, so it's all healed by now."

A throat cleared from somewhere in the back of the group, and Daisy glared at Sam Wilson, also known as the Falcon, who was already regretting making a noise. "Look, none of this is my business, but I think Wanda's talking about phantom limb pain." Yep, there was no denying that he found this five-foot-six bundle of earthquake energy a little intimidating. "I work for the Department of Veterans Affairs, especially with soldiers living with PTSD, so I see this kind of thing all the time. A lot of amputees can feel pain in their missing limb for weeks or months after the amputation. For some people, it never goes away. Lots of things can trigger it, like..."

"Yeah, yeah. I think I've heard of phantom pains before. But Coulson doesn't have that." She lost a little momentum and asked her team, "Right? This would be news to everyone else, too?"

Fitz ignored her and asked Sam, "So, how can we help him?"

"Honestly, the best thing you can do is be supportive and give him space when he wants it or listen when he's ready to talk. Educating yourself is a good idea, too, and finding out what course of treatment he's on. Also, if you can manage it, a stress-free work environment would be great, too." This got a slight chuckle, but he went on, "Seriously, though, I'm kind of concerned for SHIELD at this point. So your director died, came back from the dead with some kind of horrible side effects, lost an arm, lost a bunch of friends when SHIELD fell, and who knows what else. I think I heard someone mention torture very offhandedly like it wasn't a big deal. How is he coping?"

"Fine, I guess," Fitz shrugged, in case that was directed at him specifically.

"I don't like where this is headed," Hunter said. "If you're about to tell us that you think Coulson is unfit for command, then I will tell _you_ that we just went through this with the near witch-hunt."

Falcon held up his hands, palms facing Hunter. "I'm just saying, most guys I know would have trouble with even one of those things. It tends to affect people's actions and decision-making abilities. I'm sure he's talking through his troubles with SHIELD psychologists..."

"Actually, his shrink's on vacation right now, and he's probably earned it."

"...but speaking for myself, if I hear someone has that much trauma under their belt, I'd hesitate before handing them a loaded weapon, much less a vast network of vigilante spies."

Mack nodded darkly. "When you put it like that..."

"Shut up, Mack," Hunter whined. "Just shut up. Can't we all just close our mouths, go inside, eat brownies, and never bring this up again? Bobbi?" he pleaded. "A little support?"

The blonde woman deflected responsibility as quickly but logically as she could, suggesting, "Why don't we ask the Scarlet Witch? Miss Maximoff, you were just in Coulson's head. Is there anything in there that suggests he might be emotionally compromised?"

"You know that he is. Breaking into a SHIELD facility to save Skye's life... disobeying orders when he was told to throw Agent Simmons off his airplane..."

"Actually, I wasn't there for either of those things," Bobbi pointed out, to which Wanda tilted her head in confusion as she sorted through the memory jumble.

"Regardless, there is a clear pattern of misplaced priorities, where he is willing to endanger the greater good to save a smaller number of people."

"We _did_ save them," Fitz protested. "He was right in both cases, and everyone was fine."

Wanda shook her head. "Not everyone. Two SHIELD agents died on your mission to save Skye. Daisy," she corrected, realizing that this was the second time she'd gotten the name wrong. "I apologize."

Daisy huffed noncommittally, well past the point of caring. "You must have some residual Coulson left in you."

"Coulson loves you. Paternally, I mean," she clarified, mostly to Audrey, in case there was any doubt. "He loves all of his people, and he would do anything to save any one of you. It's one of the reasons I decided he couldn't be evil after all."

"Ya think?"

"But whether or not that makes him too emotionally compromised to be the director of SHIELD is a matter that I leave entirely in the hands of that organization."

Since Falcon hadn't really wanted to intrude anyway, he willingly backed off, leaving SHIELD to sort out its own problems.

Hunter clicked his tongue a few times while Bobbi and Mack exchanged tired but meaningful glances. "Soooo... brownies?" he asked.

"Yes, Hunter," Bobbi said with a relieved smile. "Brownies would be great."

It was unclear whether or not anything had been accomplished. Wanda was especially bewildered, staring at the chocolate-motivated mass surging back toward the cabin. "I just said we shouldn't go in there while he's... Never mind. I'm sure it's fine."

She entered the cabin to find Coulson staring skeptically at them all with his hands planted on his hips. "Finished dissecting my life already? What's the consensus?"

"You have a lot of issues," Bobbi summed up, "and more than your share of flaws, but we'd all rather eat brownies than talk about them."

"Me, too, but there's still fifteen minutes left on the timer. We weren't out there as long as I thought. Is everyone done talking about his anyway?" he asked anxiously.

"Sure, but didn't you invite everyone here specifically _to_ talk?"

"Doesn't mean I don't hate it." Coulson checked the timer again.

It was going to be a long fifteen minutes.


End file.
